The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is seen and recognized as the leader and voice of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He stood up for and sacrificed his life to secure equal rights and protection under the law for blacks in America. That is the part we all know and accept.

That being said, I have to admit when I began to write this essay on the impact of Dr. King on my life I was compelled to look around at the state of race relations in this country today. I have to say initially I had a less than positive view about the progress made from where Dr. King and blacks in this country began this civil rights journey and where we are today.

Sadly, I have been less than optimistic for some time about what I perceive as an ongoing lack of understanding, tolerance and acceptance from some of our white fellow Americans (particularly some of those in government), but also what I perceive as a lack of pride and unity in our own black community.

We have seen some troubling times and trends over the last few years in regards to race relations. We have witnessed assaults on some of the rights and freedoms that we fought so hard to gain such as: The gutting of the Voting Rights Act, the mass incarceration of young blacks through inequitable treatment in the judicial system, continuing prejudice in hiring and lending practices, not to mention some of our own internal issues as blacks with a lack of self-discipline, responsibility to ourselves and our young people, as well as a lack of accountability of our leaders to their community.

I, for one, thought that the election of President Barack Obama would be a defining moment in our history as well as a part of the culmination of Dr. King's dream. I, like many blacks in America, felt that we had finally come into our own. We had always been told as children that in America anyone has the potential to succeed, to do or to be anything. This president's election seemed to be proof positive that all men indeed were created equal. We were encouraged that just maybe we had begun to turn the corner as it pertained to healthy race relations with all our fellow Americans.

It seems, however, that this president's election has revealed an even deeper undercurrent of racial intolerance that has been simmering just below the surface. All of these thoughts and realizations had me less than enthusiastic about writing this essay.

In preparation to write, I started to read more about Dr. King and those days and times of the civil rights movement. I began to listen to his speeches. I watched old video of the stirred faces in the crowds that amassed to hear him speak, and a funny thing happened. I became inspired all over again. I went back to listen to and watch Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington in support of The Civil Rights Act.

I suppose as a younger person I had imagined that the crowd was a large gathering of blacks who were in support of the passing of the Civil Rights Act. As I watched it now, I saw the camera panned back and forth over a crowd that, from what I could see, was a very liberal mix of blacks and whites. It struck me that this is what Dr. King's dream was really all about. His dream was of a truly united America, a people who stood together in the face of injustice of ALL kinds, joined to defend the rights of ALL people.

He dreamed of a country where decent and patriotic Americans stand together to demand that the nation and its leaders be held to its own proclaimed standards of fairness and moral decency. People joined in the cause of freedom for all, the same freedom we sought for others around the globe.

While I believe it was Dr. King's mission and moral obligation as a leader of his people to help effect legislation in America so that blacks would be treated fairly, I see his dream as much grander in scope and ambition. His dream as a man of faith was to help America fulfill its obligations to all her citizens and to live up to the ideals that her forefathers set forth in the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution.

See, if we as Americans truly believe in the words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," then as long as even one of her citizens is discriminated against then America can never fulfill her aspirations of being a true beacon of hope and example of freedom for all around the world.

These are the words of the founding fathers of this nation. They are not vague, they are not ambiguous, they do not waver in any way. If we recite them, if we believe in them then we believe they apply equally to everyone as written.

At thirty-five years of age, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. When informed of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to further the cause of the civil rights movement.

The prize was awarded for non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in America. Dr. King took the moral high ground and led blacks in peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience to show that we as a people were civilized, non-violent, loving people of unending faith. There can be no conversation about Dr. King without acknowledging his faith in God. That was the strength and source of his power and influence. Romans 12:20 says, "But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." Dr. King knew that the only weapon he had against such hate was love, the only thing that could counter the anger was calm and the only thing that could end the war was peace.

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